When looking at some of the more successful college football teams over the past five years or so, theres no secret as to why they are having success: recruiting.
Recruiting is obviously a big factor in teams having that success and putting themselves in contention for the College Football Playoff. The premiere programs such as Alabama, Clemson, and Ohio State dominate in recruiting, finishing near the top every single year.
But what if I told you that over the past 5 years, the Florida Gators were among the top teams in terms of recruiting?
CBS Sports released an article this week breaking down the top teams in terms of recruiting from the 247 Sports rankings. Here’s how they did it:
These ratings are not a pure reflection of the talent on the roster. Our partners at 247Sports offer the Team Talent Composite each August, which takes transfers, NFL Draft exits and other attrition into consideration to produce a talent score based on the prospects on each roster heading into the upcoming season. This analysis focuses exclusively on the player acquisition portion of program building, using five years of data from the 247Sports Composite Rankings to identify some trends on the recruiting trail.
The result? Well, Georgia took the top spot with an average of 2 followed by Alabama (2.4) and Ohio State (5) in the Top 3. You won’t have to look far to find the Gators, however as they check in at No. 8. Let’s take a look at the rankings over the past 5 years for Florida which averaged out at 10.4:
- 2017 – 10
- 2018 – 14
- 2019 – 9
- 2020 – 8
- 2021 – 13
While this year’s class isn’t in the Top 10, it’s still a solid class and the Gators are on the right track. That’s all that matters as they look to get back in contention for a College Football Playoff spot next year.
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